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11/28/99, 9:14 pmc

The Commercial Appeal reports on November 24, 1999:
Agency checks MATA's disability act compliance

The story by Shirley Downing from Nov. 24 "Agency checks MATA's disability act compliance" is another sad example where the City of Memphis forces citizens to sue for their civil rights.

Transportation is a key for many people with disabilities to gain independence, find decent housing, and locate and maintain jobs. But the City of Memphis has a policy to do less than the minimum required by the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The City's malevolent policy is also evident in the recent case where Memphians had to sue the city just to get a plan of ADA compliance (Uttilla v. Memphis). That plan is 8 years late, and still has not been produced by the City Attorney, costing citizens of Memphis tens of millions of dollars.

Memphis desperately needs the commitment of city officials to the civil rights of people with disabilities.

TRANSPORTATION

The complaint the Commercial Appeal reports was filed in November of 1997. MATA periodically reports that they have solved the problems by hiring more drivers, buying more buses and computer software; but, to date, MATA has not resolved a single problem presented in the 1997 complaint.

More drivers
Actually, MATA has considerable turnover in drivers and must hire more because the ADA paratransit drivers make significantly less than fixed-route drivers. The "paratransit division" or MATAplus is a phony distinction so MATA can slight the union drivers. They claim there is a separate Paratransit Division, yet that division has the same director as the fixed-route.

Drivers and support personnel are hired into the paratransit division at a substantially lower rate. MATA limits the crossover between divisions, therefore excellence and experience does not run between divisions. MATAplus is given little chance to improve and can expect to continue to stagnate as long as the "disabled division" is segregated from MATA.

More buses
Likewise, more buses do not help the separate division. Last month with nearly 30 paratransit vehicles to use, according to MATA, they transported 9,836 people on MATAplus, or 317 a day. In 1992 with only 11 paratransit vehicles, however, MATA reports they transported an average of 347 people a day. More buses have obviously not had any effect on helping MATA to do the job.

Computer software
Finally, the new computer software has been a carrot dangled to the disability community for years. When Lawson Albritton was hired to run MATAplus in 1996, he stated the "top priority" was a new computer system. He was promoted to Director of Transportation without accomplishing his "top priority." Clearly, MATA has used the "computer will solve all of our problems" line for too long. Either MATA should train staff to use the computer software they have (The suggestion of the 1998 Consultant), or get the new software.

MORE ADA CONCERNS OF MATA

• Although MATA reports that their process for determining map distances is approved by the FTA, MATA sends a road supervisor to drive the distance and report if it is within ¾ mile from a fixed-route bus stop.

Obviously, MATA should have a clear and repeatable method to determine the service area. Driving distance is not acceptable. There is no service area map in the MATAplus office.

MATA is planning to extend the trolley to mid-town. The plans for trolley stops that MATA presented the Specialized Transportation Advisory Committee included separate entrances to accommodate wheelchairs. The Barrier Free Memphis Society has offered assistance with this but have not been included in MATA's planning. BFMS has suggested a lower-cost alternative to the current design.

Segregated entrances are not acceptable.

MATA policy is obviously to scale back paratransit service to the minimum required by the ADA.

"Many paratransit systems designed under Section 504 also cover a larger service area than the minimum area defined by the new ADA regulations. It is not the intent of the regulations to have these services rolled back to the minimum standards described." - ADA Paratransit Handbook p. 3-3

(1) Service area can be 1 ½ miles from the fixed route. MATA selected the minimum ¾ mile - without any survey of customer use.

MATA service area needs to reflect the service area of the fixed-route. MATA should not be allowed to accept the minimum service distance without any survey of consumer use.

(2) Demand. The ADA plan implementation was to increase service to 14,900 trips a month in January of 1997. In October of 1999 MATA paratransit made 9,836 trips - roughly the same as 1997. That is less than the average demand in 1993.

MATA limits demand by providing poor and undependable service.

Compared to the fixed-route system, a single paratransit trip has less return even though MATAplus charges more per ride. Therefore, lower demand of paratransit results in a saving of operating costs. An increase in rider ship on the fixed-route results in more income to MATA because those buses are on a predetermined path, whether empty or full. An increase in paratransit rider ship, on the other hand, is more costly to MATA because per trip costs are generally more than the $1.35 MATAplus charges. Rather than attempting to make the paratransit system run smoother and more cost- effectively, MATA has restricted service and deterred the disability community in Memphis from pursuing public transportation.

MATA has been successful in suppressing service. Rider ship has fallen drastically. In the 1997 MATA ADA Paratransit Update, MATA estimated that the rider ship base would increase from 3800 to 4200 people. Currently, MATA reports that less than 1000 people seek paratransit service. Although the paratransit bus fleet has grown by 6 buses (22%), and MATA contracts with a local taxi company to provide about 10% of trips, day to day rider ship has not changed since 1992.

- Tim Wheat

The Memphis Center for Independent Living
1633 Madison Avenue, Memphis, TN 38104
(901) 726-6404 v/tty (901) 726-6521 fax
mcil@mcil.org 

MCIL is a United Way of the Mid-South member Agency

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